Scribblings

Hi Dog Lovers... A lot has happened since my last 'dog blog'... And I've added another stamp to my passport! Even though the journey from Gouves in Crete to Worthing, Sussex was not without its spooky and frightening bits - what with van, ferry, aeroplane (AEROPLANE!!??) ferry again and van stints to get here. But, having settled in for just two weeks in the UK, I was whisked away and crossed over water again. My uprights said it was the 2nd worst channel crossing they have ever had. I can't believe that anyone can have had 200 crossings without being on wages on board the ship... but then, I'm just a dog. In my box in the van (I love my box - I call it home ) I was low down in the ship - but it was much worse than the Mediterranean and I was a bit sick... but the humans said they thought we were all going to die. So...we've been to France and I liked it! They've got what they call their 'renovation project' over there... I didn't have to g...

I have to say... the team back at  Gouves Animal Shelter , in Crete (where I came from)... they did a great job on me ... Along with the rest of the pooches I was fed and watered ... I could wee and poo whenever and wherever I wanted and then, at the end of the day, whichever of the volunteers who drew the short straw would come around and hose down the place down to freshen things up. They all gave us love and life was good. It was warm (not so much rain as here) and I now know that stability had arrived in my life... But, I left Gouves about 10 days ago! And - they hadn't told me about THIS place! Here, in downtown Worthing (I think it must be near the North Pole) I go for a walk every morning (maybe even along the pier). I am still on the coast here but on this one it's a little on the chilly side. The Mediterranean it definitely is NOT... Sometimes there's another walk just after lunch (yeah I have lunch too) and then again, after my evening meal - yep, we may ...

From Crete, in a Crate, all the Way to Worthing in West Sussex... The Rudy Has Landed! It was a long haul from Crete, and the Gouves' Animal Shelter volunteer ladies did us 4 dog-travellers proud! The trip didn't quite go according to plan and I think a few beings... human and canine, got fairly near the end of their tether at times! I've finished up in a place called Worthing hey ho!... And, first impressions are that it's OK. Cooler than Greece but that is just from a temperature point of view initially. I will let you know about the social, hip-hop and night club scene after a few days... I was sick in the back of my new owner's car after being lifted into my new squidgy pet carrier...within the first 30 seconds... and then did a poo on the hall floor as soon as I got into the house... what my new boss called my 'travel plug'! He thinks I'd been constipated after being cooped up in a box for a long time with only a few opportunities to ...

I'll have to qualify that straight away. I don't even know what my name is! In fact I'm not even supposed to know what a 'name' is . There are things happening to me - and around me, that I don't understand... Since just after my eyes opened and I could actually see for the first time, I have been in what I've heard people call an 'animal shelter' with my brothers and sisters... I recognise the words because they are said here all the time... but I don't know what the words mean. Here's another word, one that I've heard humans use and, by association and because I heard it again recently and close by this time, I think I've just been 'castrated'. All I know about that is - it hurts like hell - especially after the anaesthetic wears off! This word 'castration' is something that I've heard just before others around me have disappeared and, when they get back - just before they disappear forever, people start m...

"Before I die... I just wanted to say - when I've gone ... Do me a favour?" This is what my dad asked me whilst he was in the last few days of his life. He was on Morphine. He'd just undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth on the exit wall of his stomach - which, in retrospect, was hardly necessary. But he was philosophical and said that it had given him a few extra days of life and that's how he was able to ask me the question... There was something that had been niggling him... He was very pragmatic. "Will you, when you put my ashes in the ground in the hole next to your mum's, will you open the plastic bag that hers are in - you know, inside the casket - and will you make sure that you mix the two lots together... touching?" Without giving it any thought - because it was his last wish - and you don't want to spoil the moment - I said, "Of course I will". At the time I wasn't surprised or phased by the question. I ...